Identify a Song on a PC After Shazam Left Windows

Shazam is Apple’s music recognition app. You let it hear a few seconds of a recording, and it names the track when that recording is in the catalog. Shazam’s site is the product home. On a Windows PC today, that description does not include a desktop installer. The Windows application was discontinued. Someone who wants a name for a song playing on the computer has two honest routes: a Chrome extension, if the Chrome Web Store still lists it, or the phone app held near the speaker. A setup file from a download blog is not a third route.

The catalog listing is Shazam for Windows. Softcoria does not host an installer. There is no current official Windows build for a catalog to host.

What happened to the Windows app

Published reports, including the history summarized on the Shazam page on Wikipedia, quote a shutdown on February 7, 2017 and describe the app’s removal from the Microsoft Store. A Store search that returns nothing is the expected result. The desktop client for Windows is not supposed to be sitting there under a new coat of paint.

The clients those reports still point to are phones, a Mac app, and a Chrome extension that has been offered. A Mac app does not put a Windows build back in the Store. Reinstalling Windows does not recreate the 2017 program. A page that says the Windows edition returned needs an Apple source behind it. This guide will not invent a version number for a desktop build that is not shipping.

Ways to identify music from a Windows PC

OptionWhat it is on a Windows PC Old desktop appDiscontinued. Reports date the sunset to February 7, 2017. Microsoft StoreRemoved with that shutdown. Not a current install path. Chrome extensionUsable only while Shazam’s own listing is still in the Chrome Web Store. Phone appA current client. Hold it near the computer speaker. Random setup fileNot an official Windows build. Do not run it.

The PC plays the audio. Identification happens in Chrome, when the extension is listed, or on the phone. Neither route needs a Shazam service or a codec pack on Windows.

Use the Chrome extension when it is still listed

Shazam has offered a Chrome extension. That is a browser add-on, not a Windows desktop program, and it exists only for as long as the Chrome Web Store keeps the listing. Search the store for Shazam and read the publisher line before you install anything. The listing should be Shazam’s. A similarly named extension from a blog, or a .crx file emailed to you, is a different product.

1. Open the Chrome Web Store yourself. Do not follow a “direct install” button on an unrelated site.
2. If Shazam’s extension is there, install that listing. If the search returns nothing official, stop. Absence means the offer is gone, not that you should hunt a setup file.
3. Play the song in Chrome, or play audio the computer is already sending to the speakers, and use the extension’s identify control. Give it a few seconds of clear sound.
4. Keep the PC online. Recognition needs a network connection. An extension that cannot reach the service cannot name the track.

If the store listing describes the clicks differently from this paragraph, follow the listing. Button names move. The boundary does not: the extension comes from the Chrome Web Store, or you do not install an extension at all. Chrome on Windows is enough of a “computer” path. It is not a revival of the old desktop app, and it does not appear in the Start menu as Shazam.

Hold the phone near the speaker

The phone app is the reliable current client when the extension is missing. Play the song on the Windows PC through speakers. Unlock the phone, open Shazam, and hold the microphone end toward the speaker. Leave it there for a few seconds while the melody or the vocal is actually audible. A network connection on the phone is part of the same step. The lookup does not finish as a purely offline trick.

• Use speakers. Headphones on your ears, with the phone in a pocket, give the microphone nothing from the track.
• Turn the computer volume up until it is clearly louder than the room, a fan, or a second video.
• Pause other audio. Two songs at once produce a mess, not a clearer match.
• Stay online on the phone until the result appears or the attempt ends.

A result names the recording when Shazam finds one. Buttons that open another music service depend on the phone app you are holding, not on a Windows share sheet this guide can promise. If the attempt ends without a name, change the conditions below before you assume the song is unknowable.

What a successful listen needs

Recognition needs two things this guide will keep repeating, because both get skipped. It needs a few seconds of clear audio. A single hit of a snare, or a fragment buried under talk, is not that sample. It also needs a network connection so the sample can be checked against the catalog. Airplane mode on the phone, or a Chrome profile that is offline, stops the lookup even when the microphone heard the song.

Point the phone at the speaker, keep the room quieter than the music, and let a vocal line or a chorus play. You do not install anything on the PC for that. The song has to be audible, and the client has to be online.

This guide does not state an accuracy rate.

When the name does not come back

Some misses are ordinary, and none of them are fixed by a Windows installer.

• Live covers and other performances. A band playing the song in a video, or a singer covering it, is not the same recording as the studio track. Recognition is matching a catalog entry. A different performance can fail even when a person in the room knows the title.
• Very quiet audio. If you can barely hear the song, the phone cannot build the few clear seconds it needs. Raise the speaker, move the phone closer, and try again. Do not raise it into distortion so loud that the recording itself breaks up.
• Tracks that are not in the catalog. A private mix, a very new upload, or a local file nobody released can be absent. The honest result is no match. Installing a program on the PC does not insert that track into Shazam’s catalog.
• No network. The sample was heard and the lookup never left the device. Reconnect and try the same few seconds again.

Try a cleaner stretch of the same recording once more. If the extension missed, use the phone near the speaker. If the phone missed and the Chrome listing is present, try the extension. Two clients can both miss a cover or a track that is not listed. That is not a reason to hunt a 2017 desktop build.

Skip unofficial Windows installers

Search results still offer “Shazam for Windows” years after the sunset. Those files are not the discontinued Store app returning through a side door. Apple’s current clients, as this guide can actually point to, are the phone, the Mac app, and the Chrome extension when it is listed. A .exe on a software portal, a forum thread, or a video description is someone else’s program wearing the name.

Before you run any installer that claims to be Shazam, read How to Safely Download and Install Software on Windows and then do not run that file. The safe-install habits exist so you can refuse a download that has no publisher you trust. Softcoria’s listing documents the name. It does not supply a setup program, and it should not be treated as permission to fetch one from elsewhere.

If a file already ran, remove it from Settings, Apps, Installed apps, then scan with Windows Security. Do not install a second tool that calls itself a Shazam cleaner. Then go back to the phone, or to the Chrome Web Store listing if it is still there.

FAQ

Can I install a current Shazam desktop app on Windows?

No current official Windows desktop app is in circulation. Published reports, including the history summarized on Wikipedia, date the shutdown to February 7, 2017 and describe removal from the Microsoft Store. Look instead at phones, the Mac app, and a Chrome extension that has been offered.

What can I use on a PC if the Windows app is gone?

If the Chrome Web Store still lists Shazam’s extension, install only that listing. If the listing is gone, do not replace it with a setup file. The other honest option is the phone app held near the computer speaker for a few seconds of clear audio, with a network connection.

What does recognition need before it can name a song?

It needs a few seconds of clear audio and a network connection. The match is looked up online. Speakers that are louder than the room, and a phone pointed at those speakers, give the microphone something to send. This guide does not state an accuracy percentage.

Why would Shazam hear the audio and still miss?

Live covers, very quiet audio, and tracks that are not in the catalog are ordinary misses. A cover is a different performance from the studio recording being matched. Quiet audio hides the few seconds recognition needs. A missing catalog entry cannot be forced by installing another program.

Is an unofficial Windows installer a safe substitute?

No. The desktop app was discontinued. A setup file from a download portal is not a revival from Apple. Softcoria does not host a Shazam installer. Read the safe-install guide, then do not run that file. If you already ran one, remove it from Installed apps and scan with Windows Security.

Related guides

• How to Safely Download and Install Software on Windows — use it to refuse an unofficial Shazam setup file.

Related software

• Shazam — the Softcoria listing. It is not a Windows installer.
• Audio software for Windows — other catalog listings. They do not restore the 2017 Shazam app.